Saturday, March 28, 2015

How to apply the Characteristics of a
Successful Basketball Program to the Design and Process of an Effective School

With many sports enthusiasts spending this
and next week continuing their participation in the “rite of spring” called
“March Madness,” it is interesting to think about how many teams have been in
the NCAA tournament for five, ten, fifteen, or for over 20 years in a row.

And, while no team has won the National
Championship in consecutive years in a long while, there are many teams that
consistently qualify to play, and a select number of teams that are almost
constantly in the “Sweet Sixteen,” the “Elite Eight,” and even the “Final
Four.”

So what characterizes a successful
basketball program. . . and why am I discussing this in a blog devoted to
education?

Ignoring both questions initially, let’s
first discuss what defines a “successful” basketball program.

_ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _

Defining Basketball Success

As a graduate of a small liberal arts
college in Maine (Bowdoin College. . . “Go you Bears!”), I can tell you
(seriously !!!) that the joy of playing the game, competing, and improving was
as much a definition of success as even winning.Indeed, when you play Division III or
Division II sports, when the game ceases to be fun, then it becomes a
job. . .an expectation. . . or even a chore.

While I understand that many Division I NCAA
basketball teams have players who dream of “winning it all,” one way to look at
the tournament is that there is one winner and 67 (counting the play-in games)
losers.And so, with these remote odds,
how many players are going to invest their time, energy, and sweat in a
“success” that is so improbable?Not
many, I would think.

Critically, I believe that successful teams
are successful because everyone involved has a personal commitment to be the
best they can be. . . both to themselves and to their teammates.And to be the best, they need to be the best
on every day, at every practice, and during every drill.

Said another way, successful teams have
players, coaches, and support staff who focus on the journey and not
just on a single destination.They
are committed to consistent and continuous learning, practice, collaboration,
improvement, persistence, and integrity.And (once again) the journey needs to be fun. . . not all the
time, but enough of the time for the experience to be positive, meaningful, and
worthwhile.

_ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _

What Makes a Successful Basketball Program?

At the risk of oversimplifying, a successful
NCAA basketball program. . . given the definition of success above. . . has a
number of essential characteristics:

* Committed players with the potential to be
successful as individuals and together as a team

* Committed coaches who know how to educate
their players. . . how to maximize their athletic, academic, and personal
strengths, while minimizing their weaknesses; and how to motivate their
individual play at the same time as their team play

* A great playbook. . . with offensive and
defensive strategies that can be flexibly adapted to different opponents and
game-related situations

* Great training facilities with modern
equipment and technology that are maintained in good working condition

* A training and practice schedule that
provides sufficient time for the team to learn the playbook, to practice all
plays to mastery, and to transfer the mastery into game-level competence by
simulating different probable and improbable game situations

* A realistic but demanding schedule with
good-quality opponents so that the players and team have opportunities to
evaluate their progress over time and against the types of teams that they will
face in “The Big Dance”

* The presence of fans who provide
unconditional support, and who motivate the team to perform beyond their
potential

_ _ _

Critically, these characteristics need to
evolve and “jell” over time to the degree that the whole (team) is greater than
the sum of its (player) parts.

Moreover, the journey is not always easy or
sequential or continuous or without setbacks.But the journey has short- and long-term goals, ways to evaluate
progress, and it depends more on planning and preparation, than on wishful
thinking and good fortune.

_ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _

So. . .What Does this have to do with
Education?

If you haven’t “gotten” it yet, the
characteristics of a successful NCAA Basketball Team- - whether the program has
been a National Champion or not- - are the same as the characteristics of an
effective school.

And, it should not be lost on any of us that
basketball’s March Madness is occurring at the same time as the March
Madness of testing that is currently occurring in most schools across the
country.

To make the connection crystal clear, just
as a national championship is not the most important measure of a
successful basketball program, having every student proficient on a single
high-stakes test is not the essential benchmark of an effective school
(while this outcome is desirable, welcome, and certainly an indication that a
school, in some respects, is effective).

And so, just as with a basketball program,
we need to have multiple measures that define success, and we must recognize
that the joy of student (and staff) participation, learning, and improvement
is as much a definition of success as receiving the “trophy” of student
proficiency and being an achieving (for example, A-rated) school.

But beyond the definition of success, let’s
revisit the characteristics that lead to success.

Using the characteristics of a successful
basketball program above as a guide, successful schools need the following:

* Committed students (i.e., players) with
the potential to be successful- - academically, socially, and behaviorally- -
both as individuals and as part of a larger peer group

* Committed teachers (or coaches) who (a)
are supported by other staff, administrators, school board members, and
community leaders; and (b) know how to educate their students. . . how
to maximize their strengths as learners and as future citizens (while
minimizing their weaknesses). . . and how to motivate them individually and,
once again, as part of a larger peer group

* A great curriculum (i.e., playbook) in all
academic and health, mental health, and wellness areas. . . with built-in
differentiated and remedial strategies that can be flexibly adapted to
different students’ learning styles and capabilities, and an instructional
focus on learning, mastery, and application

* Great schools (i.e., training facilities)
that are safe, and “equipped” with the staff, curricular and supplemental
materials, equipment and technology, and other resources needed for student,
staff, and school success

* A school and classroom (i.e., training and
practice) schedule that provides sufficient time for students to learn and
master targeted information and skills, and to practice and transfer their
skills (individually and in project-based, cooperative, or lab situations) into
real-world, 21st Century, college and career-ready competence by
simulating different applied situations from preschool through high school

* A professional development, coaching and
supervision, collegial consultation, and staff accountability process that
helps teachers, support staff, and administrators to learn, master, and
effectively apply their knowledge and skills such that differentiated
instruction and interventions for students (as needed) are implemented with
high impact

* A realistic but demanding instructional
approach that provides students with learning courses, units, and lessons
(i.e., good-quality opponents) that are at an instructional (as opposed to
frustration) level where they can learn, advance, and meaningfully
evaluate their progress over time such that they are prepared for multiple
post-high school options

* The presence of peers, staff, and parents
(i.e., fans) who provide unconditional support, and who motivate them to
perform at or beyond their potential

As with a successful basketball program,
these student, staff, and school characteristics need to evolve and “jell” over
time to the degree that the whole school is greater than the sum of its
parts.

Moreover, with new students and staff coming
on board each year, ongoing changes in curricular standards, and innovative
approaches constantly being developed and introduced, the journey is not always
easy or sequential or continuous or without setbacks.

But the journey must proceed, and to
succeed, it must include short- and long-term goals, ways to evaluate progress,
and a focus on strategic planning, preparation, and productivity.

_ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _

Summary

Whether it is a successful basketball
program, an effective school, a good-to-great business, or a productive agency
or organization, there are core and common qualities and characteristics that
are shared by each.

Great basketball programs don’t just happen.
. . and they can be found in the “Sweet Sixteen”. . . as well as at Division II
and III. . . and just as easily at your local high school.

Effective schools also don’t just happen. .
. but their success must be measured across a variety of variables that
reflect where they start, what they have to work with, how they use and build
capacity, how well they implement, and how they sustain their growth, progress,
and short- and long-term successes.

Mariah Burton Nelson once said, “Think of yourself
as an athlete. I guarantee you it will change the way you walk, the way you
work, and the decisions you make about leadership, teamwork, and success.”

And so, I encourage you and your school to think
like a successful basketball program because:

Effective schools. . . build
relationships:

“In
leadership, there are no words more important than trust. In any organization,
trust must be developed among every member of the team if success is going to
be achieved.” Mike Kryzewski (Coach K)

_ _ _ _
_

Effective schools. . . prepare:

“The
key is not the “will to win” . . . everybody has that. It is the will to prepare to win that is
important.”Bobby Knight

_ _ _ _
_

Effective schools. . . execute:

“Some
people want it to happen, some wish it would happen, others make it happen.”Michael
Jordan

_ _ _ _
_

and Effective schools. . . understand
success:

"Success
comes from knowing that you did your best to become the best that you are
capable of becoming."John Wooden

_ _ _ _
_

As basketball’s March Madness continues, I
hope that your brackets are intact, and that “your team” is still playing.But, if not, remember. . . only one team cuts
down the nets.The rest celebrate the
involvement, the experience, and the journey.

Sunday, March 15, 2015

A
New Center for Civil Rights Remedies Report Concludes (again) that
Schools are NOT Closing the Minority and Exceptional Student Discipline Gap

Reports say that the
Chicago Public Schools’ Restorative Practice Policies and Approaches Have
Decreased the “Numbers,” but Increased “Havoc and Lawlessness”

Dear
Colleagues,

Steve Tobak once said,

“Great
innovators don’t see different things. . . they see the same things
differently.”

Today’s discussion is about the continuing
problem, in schools across the country, relative to the disproportionate number
of poor, minority, and special education students who are suspended or expelled
from school (or sent to the principal’s office, or put into alternative
school programs) due to their “discipline problems.”

More specifically, I will first highlight a
report published last month by The Center for Civil Rights Remedies that
again documents, in great detail, the statement above.This will be followed with comments on a
related February 25th article in the Chicago Tribune by Juan
Perez Jr.Mr. Perez reported that the
Chicago Public School District’s changes, last year, to its Student Code of
Conduct, its training in classroom management and use of restorative practices,
and its $15 million investment on nearly five dozen vendors to work on school
discipline issues with teachers and students has resulted in- - according to
one teacher- - “lawlessness.”

In the end, I will outline the student,
staff, and school approaches needed to increase students’ interpersonal,
social problem-solving, conflict prevention and resolution, and emotional
coping skills, decrease their social, emotional, and behavioral
challenges, and thereby close the school suspension disproportionality
gap.

Now applying Tobak’s quote. . . It is
indisputable that poor, minority, and special education students are being
disproportionately suspended or expelled from school for “behavioral
difficulties” that inconsistently range from minor infractions to major
offenses.But it is interesting that
different “innovators” are “seeing the same things differently,” and responding
(often inappropriately) from somewhat singular, “one size fits all”
perspectives.

For
example:

* Policymakers often see the problem as
needing changes in policy- - for example, changing an inappropriate zero
tolerance policy to a naïve restorative justice policy

* District administrators often see the
problem as needing changes in practices- - that is, adding more training
(for example, in classroom management) to increase the competence of teachers
and others to prevent and/or respond to students’ behavioral challenges

* School administrators often see the
problem as needing changes in personnel- - that is, adding more people
(for example, untrained paraprofessional “behavior interventionists” or, as in
Chicago, “restorative practice coaches”) to increase the number of staff
available to “manage” disruptive students

* And, student advocates often see the
problem as needing changes in perspective- - focusing on changing how
different students are perceived- - along a continuum that actually ranges from
some staff’s unintentional or misinformed misperceptions, to other staff’s
intentional or ignorant biases or racial prejudices.

In actuality, all of these changes
are potentially needed. . . but they are often applied randomly, in the
absence of sound data-based analyses, as top-down mandates, without the
necessary training and resources, and in isolated and (once again) singular and
“one size fits all” ways.It’s almost as
if we are throwing spaghetti at the wall- - concluding that it’s done when it
sticks.

Disproportionality is a multi-factored
student, staff, school, and community issue.In order to solve it, we need to “work the problem,” and not just
“change the numbers.”

_ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _

A New National Report on Disproportionate School
Suspensions

Last month, The Center for Civil Rights Project published a new report (Are We Closing the School Discipline
Gap?) analyzing the school suspension data from our nation’s schools during
the 2011-2012 school year.

*Nearly 3.5 million public school students
were suspended out of school at least once

*1.55 million students were suspended at least
twice

*Suspension rates differed significantly across schools, districts,
states, and time- - but high-suspension districts suspended more than 1 out of
every 10 elementary school students, and 1 out of every 4 secondary students

* With the
average suspension lasting 3.5 days, nearly
18 million days of instruction were lost by our nation’s students during this
single school year

But
most importantly,
according to the Report:

*The
biggest difference in suspension rates related to how specific school and
district administrators approached and implemented their disciplinary policies.

_
_ _ _ _

More Data.Relative to students’ racial, English
Language Learner, and special education background or status, the Report
provided the following suspension data (see figures below) from the 2011-2012
school year, as well as historically since 1972.

Finally, while the Report identified a
number of large city school districts that had “most improved” their suspension
rates over time, it appeared that the “improvement” was due more to policy than
practice.Indeed, many of these
districts did not comprehensively change the systemic practices of staff and
administrators in their schools. . . they did not increase the number of
advanced skill mental and behavioral health and intervention professionals. . .
they did not engage in staff and community outreach programs to increase the
understanding and sensitivity to individual student differences. . . and they
did not embed their school-based approaches into community-wide social,
economic, political, and grass-roots initiatives.

_
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

A Chicago Public Schools Case Study

Chicago provides a telling case study of
what happens when policies designed to “change the numbers,” are not
complemented by strategic, differentiated practices designed to “change the
people.”

In his February 25thChicago
Tribune article, Juan Perez Jr. reported that the Chicago Public School
District’s changes, last year, to its Student Code of Conduct, its training in
classroom management and use of restorative practices, and its $15 million
investment on nearly five dozen vendors to work on school discipline issues
with teachers and students has resulted in- - according to one teacher- -
“lawlessness.”

CLICK
ON ARTICLE LINK HERE

Among the biggest problems cited in the
article were the following:

* Teachers
say they have not been given resources to work with the revised Student

Code of Conduct

* Some schools do not
have behavioral specialists on staff to intervene with students, nor resources
to train teachers on discipline practices that address students’ underlying
needs

* Approaches have shifted
too far such that some staff say there are no consequences, inconsistent
enforcement, and/or little collaboration among in-school staff, administrators,
and in-school staff from the outside vendors

* District-provided
training in areas like restorative practices and classroom management are not provided
to entire schools

* Restorative practice
coaches are only in the schools on a weekly basis- - regardless of need

* The new conduct code places
stronger limits on the use of suspensions and seeks to avoid consequences that
would pull a student from classes or the school building

* Prekindergarten through
second-grade students can't receive an in-school or out-of-school suspension
without approval of a district supervisor

In the end, while the
number of in-school and out-of-school suspensions in the District declined
between the 2012-13 and 2013-14 school years, racial disparities remained.But once again, the numbers decreased due to
the policies that discouraged and/or controlled educators’ use of suspension, not
due to increases in students with more appropriate behavior, and decreases in students
presenting frequent or significant behavioral challenges.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Reality Check

To set the record
straight, please understand that I believe that:

* It is critically
important to decrease the number of students being suspended from our schools
nationwide, and to eliminate suspensions that are arbitrary, unnecessary,
steeped in prejudice, and that do not match the intensity of the offense.(We just need to do it the right way.)

* Legitimate decreases in
student suspensions and even discipline referrals to the principal’s office do
not always result in simultaneous increases in positive school and classroom
climates, student engagement, and prosocial student behavior. (While we may successfully decrease the
intensity of students’ challenging behavior- - such that they no longer need
office referrals- - that does not mean that they are engaged and learning in
their classrooms.)

* Suspensions are
administrative responses, and they rarely result in decreasing or eliminating students’
future inappropriate behavior, while simultaneously increasing their
appropriate behavior.(In other words,
without interventions that change students’ behaviors, the student returns from
the suspension with the same problem.)

* Some teacher referrals
to the principal’s office and some administrative suspensions are arbitrary,
capricious, and mean-spirited on one end; or due to a lack of student sensitivity
(e.g., to cultural or disability issues), knowledge, understanding, and skill
on the other end.(Thus, the root cause
of “disproportionality” here is the adults. . . and the adults must be changed
if the disproportionality is going to be changed.)

* Restorative Justice
programs- - if implemented with appropriate integrity and intensity- - are
useful programs. . . but only when they are matched to the students who will
most benefit from those programs (based on analyses that confirm the
underlying reasons for a student’s challenging behavior).

* Ultimately, schools
need to focus on teaching and reinforcing students’ interpersonal, social
problem-solving, conflict prevention and resolution, and emotional coping
skills; while also providing the assessment and intervention services,
supports, strategies, and programs that the most challenging students need to
address their inappropriate behavior.(Without school-wide prosocial skill instruction programs and approaches
that motivate students to “make good choices,” we will never know how many challenging
student behaviors we can prevent.)

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Understanding Students’ Inappropriate Behavior

When students demonstrate social, emotional, or
behavioral challenges, we need to work together to figure out why. Sometimes
this can be done by an individual teacher. . . sometimes this is accomplished
by a grade-level (or instructional) team working together. . . and sometimes
this requires a school-level multidisciplinary early intervention team (like a
Student Assistance Team, RtI Team, Student Services Team, or the equivalent).

Critically, though, everyone
in the school needs to be trained in the same problem-solving process that
helps to collect and analyze the information and data that determine the
underlying reasons for students’ (academic and) inappropriate behavior.Once these underlying reasons are known,
specific services, supports, strategies, and programs can be ascertained- -
although this means that schools need to have professionals with extensive
knowledge in classroom and other social, emotional, and behavioral
interventions (so that problem analysis results are linked with the best problem
solution approaches).

Some of the primary
reasons why students demonstrate social, emotional, or behavioral problems in
the classroom include:

* There are (known or undiagnosed) biological,
physiological, biochemical, neurological, or other physically- or
medically-related conditions or factors that are unknown, undiagnosed,
untreated, or unaccounted for.

* They do not have
positive relationships with teachers and/or peers in the school, and/or the
school or classroom climate is so negative (or negative for them) that it is
toxic.

* They are either
academically frustrated (thus, they emotionally act out) or academically
unsuccessful (thus, they are behaviorally motivated to escape further failure
and frustration).

* Their teachers do not have effective
classroom management skills, and/or the teachers at their grade or
instructional levels do not have consistent classroom management approaches.

* They have not learned how to demonstrate
and apply effective interpersonal, social problem-solving, conflict prevention
and resolution, and/or emotional coping skills to specific (school-based or
home-based) situations in their lives.

* They
do not have the skills or motivation to work with peers- - for example, in the
cooperative or project-based learning groups that are more prevalent in today’s
classrooms.

* They are not held accountable for
appropriate behavior by, for example, requiring them (a) to apologize for and
correct the results of their inappropriate behavior; and (b) role play,
practice, or demonstrate the appropriate behavior that they should have done
originally.

* Their behavior is due to past
inconsistency-- across people, settings, situations, or other circumstances.
For example, when teachers’ classroom management is inconsistent, some students
will manipulate different situations to see how much they can "get away
with." Or, when peers reinforce
inappropriate student behavior while the adults are reinforcing appropriate behavior,
students will often behave inappropriately because they value their peers more
than the adults in the school.

* They are experiencing extenuating,
traumatic, or crisis-related circumstances outside of school, and they need emotional
support (sometimes including mental health) to cope with these situations and
be more successful at school.

Critically, if we do not
know the problem(s), we will never identify and implement the solution(s).

_ _ _ _ _

To expand on some of the
reasons underlying students’ challenging behavior, feel free to watch the
webinar below that I presented a few years ago to a national audience:

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Changing Students’ Inappropriate Behavior

Finally, as noted earlier, many student problems can
be prevented by implementing a scientifically-based school discipline,
classroom management, and student self-management system.Based on our 30 years of evidence-based work
in this area- - and implementation in thousands of schools in every state
across the country, this system has the following interdependent components:

* Staff, Student, and Parent Relationships
that establish Positive School and Classroom Climates

* Explicit Classroom and Common School Area Expectations
supported by Social, Emotional, and Behavioral Skill/Self-Management
Instruction (that are embedded in preschool through high school "Health,
Mental Health, and Wellness" activities)

* Consistency--in the classroom, across classrooms, and
across staff, time, settings, and situations

* Applications of the above across all Settings in the
school, and relative to the Peer Group interactions (specifically targeting
teasing, taunting, bullying, harassment, hazing, and physical aggression)
_ _ _ _ _

For more
information about these components, please feel free to watch this short,
ten-minute overview.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Summary

It is frustrating for
everyone when concerted, well-intended efforts to address major school problems
are unsuccessful.Moreover, when these
problems get worse despite efforts that actually invest the right amount
of time, funds, personnel, and other resources, the frustration often morphs
into hopelessness and despair, or blaming and anger. . . along with a more
refined resistance to future efforts.

Disproportionality. . .
whether related to student discipline, placements into special education,
access to effective teachers, equal educational opportunities, or civil rights.
. . has existed throughout my professional career (and before).I don’t profess to possess “the silver
bullet.”But I do know that our schools
are not succeeding by simply changing policies, and throwing “one size fits
all” programs at our practices.More
importantly, I also know that success can occur by integrating and
focusing our policies, practices, personnel, and perspectives on both enhancing
the skills and strengths of our students, staff, schools, and communities, and
addressing the multi-faceted reasons underlying this important issue.

_ _ _ _ _

As always, I hope that some of the ideas above
resonate with you. . . or, at least, provoke some deep thinking.Feel free to contact me if you would like to
reflect on these thoughts or discuss them in greater detail.Have a GREAT week !!!

Connecting with Howie

Follow by Email

About Me

Howard M. Knoff, Ph.D. is the creator and Director of Project ACHIEVE.After 22 years as a university professor and over 12 years as a federal grant director for a state department of education, he continues his national work as a full-time national consultant, author, and presenter.

Dr. Knoff is recognized nationwide as an expert in the following areas:

·School Improvement and
Turn-Around, Strategic Planning and Organizational Development

·Differentiated Academic
Instruction and Academic Interventions for Struggling Students

·Social, Emotional, and
Behavioral Instruction and Strategic and Intensive Interventions for Challenging
Students

·Multi-tiered (RtI)
Services, Supports, and Program

·Effective Professional
Development and On-Site Consultation and Technical Assistance

From 2003 through 2015, he was the Director of the federally-funded State Improvement Grant (SIG; 2003-2009) which then became the State Personnel Development Grant (SPDG; 2009-2015) for the Arkansas Department of Education (ADE). These grants funded the state-wide scale-up of Project ACHIEVE--especially its school improvement, positive behavioral support, and multi-tiered RtI service system components. Through the ADE's Elementary and Secondary Education Act flexibility process, Project ACHIEVE was the state's school improvement model for all Focus schools.

Prior to that, Dr. Knoff was a Professor of School Psychology at the University of South Florida (USF, Tampa, FL) for 18 years, and Director of its School Psychology Program for 12 years. He also was the creator and Director of the Institute for School Reform, Integrated Services, and Child Mental Health and Educational Policy at USF, and was instrumental in leading the program to the accreditation of its doctoral program by the American Psychological Association.

Project ACHIEVE is a nationally-recognized school
effectiveness/school improvement program that has been designated a National
Model Prevention Program by the U. S. Department of Health & Human
Service’s Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
(SAMHSA).Over the past 30 years, Howie
has implemented Project ACHIEVE components in thousands of schools or school
districts—training in every state in the country.He has also been awarded over $21 million in
federal, state, or foundation grants for this work, and recently received two
School Climate Transformation grants and one Elementary and Secondary
Counseling grant from the federal government to support work in Pennsylvania,
Michigan, and Kentucky.

Dr. Knoff received his Ph.D. degree from
Syracuse University in 1980, and has worked as a practitioner, consultant,
licensed private psychologist, and university professor since 1978.Dr. Knoff is widely respected for his
research and writing on school reform and organizational change, consultation
and intervention processes, social skills and behavior management training,
Response-to-Intervention, and professional issues.

He has authored or co-authored 18 books,
published over 100 articles and book chapters, and delivered over 1,000 papers
and workshops nationally—including the Stop & Think Social Skills
Program (preschool through middle school editions) and the Stop &
Think Parent Book:A Guide to Children’s
Good Behavior through Cambium Learning/Sopris West Publishers and Project
ACHIEVE Press, respectively.

Dr. Knoff has a long history of working
with schools, districts, and community and state agencies and
organizations.For example, he has consulted with a number of state departments of
education, the Department of Defense Dependents School District during Desert
Storm in 1991, and the Southern Poverty Law Center.He has also served as an expert witness in
federal court five times, in addition to working on many other state and local
cases—largely for legal advocacy firms who are representing special education
and other students in need.

Specific to
school safety issues, Dr. Knoff was on the writing team that helped produce Early
Warning, Timely Response:A Guide to
Safe Schools, the document commissioned by President Clinton that was sent
to every school in the country in the Fall of 1998; and he participated in a
review capacity on the follow-up document, Safeguarding our Children: An
Action Guide.

A recipient of the Lightner Witmer Award
from the American Psychological Association's School Psychology Division for
early career contributions in 1990, and over $21 million in external grants
during his career, Dr. Knoff is a Fellow
of the American Psychological Association (School Psychology Division), a Nationally
Certified School Psychologist, a Licensed Psychologist in Arkansas, and he has
been trained in both crisis intervention and mediation processes.Frequently
interviewed in all areas of the media, Dr. Knoff has been on the NBC Nightly
News, numerous television and radio talk shows, and he was highlighted on an
ABC News' 20/20 program on "Being Teased, Taunted, and
Bullied."

Finally, Dr. Knoff was the 21st President of the National Association of
School Psychologists which now represents more than 25,000 school psychologists
nationwide. He is constantly sought after for his expertise in a wide variety of school,
psychological, and other professional issues. You can e-mail him at: knoffprojectachieve@earthlink.net